In a disturbing flipside to this story, an adult Chinese pop star has taken to the social networking site Sina Weibo to declare his love for a preteen model and singer who claims she loves him back.

24-year-old Zhang Muyi and 12-year-old Akama Miki have apparently been exchanging love notes and posting "romantic" photos of themselves spending time together at the beach and on the couch.

"Wait until I'm old enough to marry you, and then I'm going to say 'I do,'" Miki posted on Muyi's Weibo page shortly after her 12th birthday. "I simply can't wait for these next four birthdays of yours to pass, I'm counting down each one," he replied.

Miki, who is Canadian, has a substantial following in China, and some have suggested the two have cooked up their "relationship" as a publicity stunt.

Indeed, the duo has just released a new duet called "Pretty Boy," and are working on a follow-up entitled "Courageous Love." Also, they only recently joined Weibo, and only follow each other.

But to those "who have doubted us and our love story," the pair responded in a join statement, saying "there's nothing we can do about this, nor do we feel the need to prove anything to these people. All we can do is continue to persevere with our love, our life, and being together."

Also, as News.com.au notes, "why would a 24-year-old pretend to be in love with a child to boost his profile?"